NEW ORLEANS — Anthony Davis made his intentions clear as the 2017 All-Star Game approached Sunday night. He told his fellow Western Conference All-Stars he wanted to win the MVP award for basketball fans in the Big Easy.

He did that.

Davis scored a record 52 points to lead the West over the East 192-182 at the Smoothie King Center, the arena where his New Orleans Pelicans play their home games.

“It was amazing,” Davis said. “That's what I wanted to do. I stressed that, I think more than enough, to the guys in the locker room before the game that I wanted to get the MVP for this crowd, for this city, and I ended up doing it. Them guys did a great job of just finding me, giving me the basketball. They wanted me to score 50.”

Wilt Chamberlain owned the previous All-Star Game scoring record of 42 points, set in 1962.

“It was great, man,” said the West’s Russell Westbrook, who had won the All-Star Game MVP award in 2015 in New York and last year in Toronto.

“It's definitely always a great thing to do, especially here where he plays in front of his fans, his family. It's a great experience and [I’m] definitely happy for him.”

Westbrook, the triple-double specialist, finished with 41 points, five rebounds and seven assists.

He also participated in one of the night’s signature moments.

Midway through the first quarter, Kevin Durant threw a lob to Westbrook for a dunk. When a timeout was called seconds later, West players Draymond Green, DeMarcus Cousins and DeAndre Jordan applauded Durant and Westbrook in their huddle near their bench.

“I saw some ice flying, I know that,” West coach Steve Kerr said. “It took a couple minutes to wipe up the ice and the water. But there were three or four guys that were kind of leading the charge with the laughter and the mocking. So I think it was DeAndre and DeMarcus and Draymond. So it was a fun moment.”

Durant finished with a triple-double of 21 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists.

In the third quarter, the East’s Giannis Antetokounmpo twice dunked over Stephen Curry. On another occasion, Curry saw Antetokounmpo pick up a loose ball at midcourt. Curry belly-flopped onto the Smoothie King Center court and remained motionless as he let Antetokounmpo speed to the hoop and complete an emphatic windmill dunk.

“You know, start of the game, I was just hoping I could get a bucket, to not embarrass myself and just have fun,” said Antetokounmpo, who led the East with 30 points.

The night had some star power in the courtside seats. Beyoncé, Jay Z, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Dave Chappelle, Chris Tucker and Guy Fieri attended the game.

Charlotte originally was supposed to host the game, but the NBA moved the exhibition to New Orleans to protest a North Carolina law that limits protections for LGBT people. The law includes a provision that calls for transgender people to use public restrooms that correspond to the gender on their birth certificates.

Davis gave New Orleans fans something to cheer.

He scored 20 points in the fourth quarter to help the West secure the win.

“It means a lot,” Davis said. “Actually, the guy who really was trying to break it down for me was Draymond. He said, all right, we got to get to at least 24 by halftime, and then we came out, and he said, we got to get at least 30 before you come out of the third.

“So we were just kind of breaking it down. Then, of course, all the other guys were adding on to it and trying to get me the ball.

“Me and Coach Kerr had a conversation before that we both wanted me to get MVP for the city and do it in front of the home crowd, which was a lot of fun.”

jrobbins@orlandosentinel.com. Read his blog at OrlandoSentinel.com/magicblog and follow him on Twitter at @JoshuaBRobbins.